Third place match taken by U.S over Mexico 5-1.

HEREDIA, Costa Rica (Saturday, July 29, 2000) -- Although it was anticlimatic finish without hope of taking the real
prize of a spot at the World Championships, the United States completed the 2000 CONCACAF tournament with a 5-1 victory
over Mexico in the third place match. Costa Rica later won the CONCACAF championship at Cuba's expense 2-0.

Mexico and the U.S. had met earlier in the tournament in a round one game with the Americans prevailing 3-2. This
was another physical match that saw 21 total fouls, five yellow card cautions and four red card ejections.

"You had two proud countries playing each other for the bronze medal and neither team wanted to lose," said Head
Coach Keith Tozer. "After we were up 3-1, Mexico began to get frustrated and the match turned ugly towards the end, but
I'm happy with the way the team played excellent defense and most of all stayed professional in and out of the game."

The game began with the U.S. getting the better of the exchanges. But it was Mexico’s forward Jesus Torres who scored
the first goal, ripping an angled shot on the run high inside Orf’s right post.

But forward Brian Loftin (Milwaukee Wave/Rampage, NPSL/A-League) answered the challenge with an equalizer, finishing
off a perfectly-placed corner kick from defender Sean Bowers (Detroit Rockers, NPSL) from close range.

The U.S. took the lead just before the half (19th minute), when forward Matt Tirschman (Milwaukee Wave, NPSL)
intercepted a bad pass by Mexican goalkeeper Luis Kleyman and dished out a low cross to forward Lee Tschantret (Detroit
Rockers, NPSL) who shot towards an empty net.

In the second half, Mexico came out determined to level the score with several dangerous scoring opportunities but
USA ‘keeper Otto Orf (Cleveland Crunch, NPSL), who extended his perfect lifetime futsal record to 7-0, made several key
saves to maintain the lead.

"This is the highest honor for me personally," said Orf. "I take great pride with this streak and I hope that I can
continue to put it to the test in the future."

Jeff Davis (St. Louis Steamers, WISL) put the USA up 3-1 early in the second half, finishing off a 3-on-1
counterattack.

Loftin added his second goal of the game off a free kick in the 29th minute to give the Americans a comfortable 4-1
lead. The tough and physical game continued and resulted four ejections in the final five minutes of the match.

Then Loftin completed the hat-trick, in the 40th minute, off another free kick from 10 meters out after Mexico
committed its sixth team foul.

"It is always nice to get a hat-trick in an international game," said Loftin, who earns his second medal in CONCACAF
Tournament play. "It was great when we won the gold in 1996. The team rebounded well from our semifinal loss, so this
bronze medal is very special to us."

The victory gives the USA a 7-2 lifetime record in two CONCACAF Championship Tournaments (1996 Guatemala, 2000 Costa
Rica).

"We played our best game of the tournament," said Head Coach Keith Tozer. "The team played with a lot of character
and even though the door to the world championship has closed for us, this win opens another one for the future."

In the nightcap, Costa Rica (5-0) took the gold medal in the Championship Game with a 2-0 blanking of Cuba. Both
Costa Rica and Cuba advance to the FIFA Futsal World Championship in Guatemala (Nov. 18-Dec. 3), while the USA will
miss the tournament for the first time in its history.

Futsal is a sport derivative of soccer and played with five-man teams on a basketball style court, with no walls and
a low bouncing ball. Great soccer superstars such as Pele, Zico and Ronaldo grew up playing the game and credit Futsal
with developing their skills.